


Ice Cream and Hot Sauce

by StoleTarts



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 06:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoleTarts/pseuds/StoleTarts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash Alenko reminisces a story from his childhood about how his old man, John, took him out of school one day to learn how to hack ATMs without the approval or permission of his dad, Kaidan.</p>
<p>An AU one-shot of Commander Shepard and Kaidan Alenko from my Mass Effect 3: The Aftermath story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ice Cream and Hot Sauce

“Ash! Ash!”

I could always tell who was calling my name by the sound of their voice. While my dad sounded like he wanted something in particular, the old man usually sounded as if he was the one in trouble instead of me. This time, it was the old man. Not sure why I started calling him that. In all honesty, he was younger than my other father and acted half as mature. Still, the name just seemed to suit him better. He was always smiling or laughing about something. If he was fat, I’d call him  _jolly_.

“Hey, there you are,” he smiled at me nearly out of breath as if he ran all the way over here. I was standing against the wooden fence which outlined our property on Earth. It was an old orchid farm, rebuilt from the damage of the Reapers. Dad said it had been in our family for years and someday would belong to me. We had vineyards, horses, and fruit trees that I didn’t have much interest in climbing. Despite the vast land, I still felt caged inside of this wooden fence. My old man noticed how I wasn’t speaking to him and leaned up against the fence as well to take in the view of the cliff. His messy black hair blowing in the wind reminding me of black swan feathers. It wasn’t like my dad’s hair, which didn’t move at all. “It’s great, isn’t it? I grew up in the city, so we never had views like this.”

“Yeah,” I smiled, taking comfort in his presence. I couldn’t tell if it was him or the sun, but I remember feeling warm all of a sudden. A hand reached down to mess up my own dark waves I cursed everyday for not being straight like his. I guess I got a lot of my other dad’s genes when it came to my looks, but my smile…My smile came from this one.

“There you guys are. What are you two doing?” It was my dad, who looked concerned as usual.

“Taking in the sights, Kaidan. You should join us,” the old man said.

“Taking in the sights at 1 pm on a school day, John?” asked my dad in disappointment.

“Hey, I told Ash he could take the day off for some…uh…real world training.”

“Real world…? What does that even mean?” was laughed.

“We hacked a few ATMs,” I interrupted. “Then we got ice cream.” My old man choked at this with a grin before giving me a nudge to my shoulder.

“The ice cream was so you wouldn’t tell him that,” he chuckled before his eyes innocently turned upwards. My dad, of course, wasn’t happy about at all about it.

“Hacking, John? Really? He’s only thirteen years old! What if you got caught?!”

“But we didn’t?” the old man snickered more as he moved in to place his hand on my dad’s shoulder. “I’ve done this plenty of times. It was just practice. Kid needs to learn these things.” My dad sighed, giving me the  _look_ , but I only smiled as the old man did. It was the one thing he was weak against.

“It was easy,” I added, which made his eyes roll.

“Yeah, I bet it was,” he finally smiled back at me as he reached out to take the old man by the hand. “Alright, well since you’re here, how about we throw something on the grill?” I perked up then. Nothing said freedom like a great family BBQ, even if it was in middle of a weekday. “Burgers? Steaks?”

“Oh no, we know what happens when you cook Kaidan,” teased the old man, but he only laughed at this.

“Oh? Remember what happened last time  _you_  cooked? We had to call the fire department!’

“THAT…was an accident. They mislabeled that can of gasoline!”

“Uh no, John. There are big, red letters which said, ‘ _Inflammable. Use only in small amounts_ ’ on it.”

“Yeah, but that was  _recommended_  usage…” They walked a few feet away from me as they chatted happily. I watched on, learning that this was the way two people acted when they were in love. Maybe I stared too long because they paused to turn back at me. “Come on, Ash. There’s still some ice cream left.”

“Coming!” I yelled as I ran up to them. The old man’s warm arm came around my shoulder as my hair was messed with again. “Hey?”

“Yeah?”

“You really did burn dinner last time.” He laughed at this, nodding as he was outvoted two to one.

“Fair enough. Kaidan?”

“Hm?”

“We have hot sauce, right?”

“Yeah, John. We always do.”


End file.
